PowerShell stops executing commands/programs
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Monday, January 09, 2012 1:37 PM
Sometimes my PowerShell stops executing programs and I have yet to find out why. In this state, when I enter the name of an EXE file, the PowerShell immediately returns to a command prompt without executing anything. Cmdlets however appear to still work. There is also no error shown in the Windows event viewer or anywhere else I have looked.
I don't know how this state is triggered (I was developing a PS1 script the last time it happened), how I prevent it from happening, and how I can return to a working state without restarting my PowerShell.
Any ideas?
All Replies
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Monday, January 09, 2012 1:49 PM
I think you need to fix the problem, as this is obviously not normal behaviour. I suspect this may be caused by one of the .exe's you are running.
What .exe programs are you running in Powershell that could be causing it to do this?
([string](0..9|%{[char][int](32+("39826578846355658268").substring(($_*2),2))})).replace(' ','')What's new in Powershell 3.0 (Technet Wiki)
- Edited by BigteddyMicrosoft Community Contributor Monday, January 09, 2012 1:49 PM
- Edited by BigteddyMicrosoft Community Contributor Monday, January 09, 2012 1:50 PM
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Monday, January 09, 2012 1:56 PMThe only programs I ran were hg.exe and midl.exe. I just don't understand how my PowerShell can get into a state where it can't execute EXE files anymore.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 2:04 PM
Sorry, I'm not familiar with those programs. What do they do?
Can you rather invoke cmd.exe /c and call the programs like that? This may eliminate your issue.
([string](0..9|%{[char][int](32+("39826578846355658268").substring(($_*2),2))})).replace(' ','') -
Monday, January 09, 2012 2:07 PMhg.exe is Mercurial, a version control tool. midl.exe is Microsoft's MIDL compiler. But my affected PowerShell instance does not run any EXE program anymore.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 2:14 PM
# You can isolate the possible effects of an EXE # on the current Powershell session by running them # in an instance of cmd.exe cmd.exe /c hg.exe cmd.exe /c midl.exe
([string](0..9|%{[char][int](32+("39826578846355658268").substring(($_*2),2))})).replace(' ','')What's new in Powershell 3.0 (Technet Wiki)
- Edited by BigteddyMicrosoft Community Contributor Monday, January 09, 2012 2:15 PM
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Monday, January 09, 2012 2:21 PMWhy should a program run from the shell have any effect on the session? And why does it work most of the time? That doesn't make any sense to me.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 2:23 PMCreate the function WhatIsby downloading and executing the script atand then runWhatIs hg.exeWhatIs midl.exeand alsoWhatIs hgWhatIs midlor use some other executable you want to see resolved.That might give you a clue..On 1/9/2012 7:56 AM, Frank Schoenmann wrote:> The only programs I ran were hg.exe and midl.exe. I just don't> understand how my PowerShell can get into a state where it can't execute> EXE files anymore.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 2:34 PM
I'm only suggesting the cmd.exe method as a trouble-shooting measure. If you find that doing it that way stops Powershell from malfunctioning, you can then narrow it down to the particular troublesome program.
This is just my gut intuition, what I would do in your situation, the way that I would approach the problem.
If this experiment has no effect, and Powershell continues to malfunction, you can then re-assess your approach. But I think the most likely offender is one of the .exe's.
([string](0..9|%{[char][int](32+("39826578846355658268").substring(($_*2),2))})).replace(' ','') -
Monday, January 09, 2012 2:37 PM
PS D:\devel> Whatis midl.exe
an application at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\midl.exe
PS D:\devel> Whatis hg.exe
an application at C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exePS D:\devel> Whatis midl
an application at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\midl.exe
PS D:\devel> Whatis hg
an application at C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exe -
Monday, January 09, 2012 2:49 PMOK. So now, what did thecmd /c midl.exetest show you?.On 1/9/2012 8:37 AM, Frank Schoenmann wrote:> PS D:\devel> Whatis midl.exe> an application at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft> SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\midl.exe> PS D:\devel> Whatis hg.exe> an application at C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exe>> PS D:\devel> Whatis midl> an application at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft> SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\midl.exe> PS D:\devel> Whatis hg> an application at C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exe>
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Monday, January 09, 2012 3:05 PMI don't know. In the affected instance, I cannot execute any programs, this includes cmd.exe. In any newly started PowerShell processes, everything works fine, regardless of using cmd /c or calling the program directly. It is non-trivial to reproduce the buggy behavior. It just seems to happen sometimes.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 3:11 PM
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Monday, January 09, 2012 3:47 PM
I don't know what I would see with Task Manager, but I have tried to diagnose it with Process Monitor. It seems as if every program I try to start from my affected PowerShell instance exits shortly afterwards with error code 0xc0000142 (after loading kernel32.dll and kernelbase.dll). I think it is a failure to initialize the application properly.
16:42:43,2694499 hg.exe 6656 Process Start SUCCESS Parent PID: 8152 16:42:43,2694581 hg.exe 6656 Thread Create SUCCESS Thread ID: 5356 16:42:43,2704461 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exe SUCCESS Image Base: 0x140000000, Image Size: 0xa000 16:42:43,2707032 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x76ea0000, Image Size: 0x1a9000 16:42:43,2709842 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D: SUCCESS Desired Access: Read Attributes, Write Attributes, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Complete If Oplocked, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult: Opened 16:42:43,2710201 hg.exe 6656 QueryInformationVolume D: BUFFER OVERFLOW VolumeCreationTime: 31.08.2010 14:49:50, VolumeSerialNumber: 4065-A580, SupportsObjects: True, VolumeLabel: Datٍ 16:42:43,2745998 hg.exe 6656 CloseFile D: SUCCESS 16:42:43,2747114 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options SUCCESS Desired Access: Query Value, Enumerate Sub Keys 16:42:43,2747366 hg.exe 6656 RegQueryValue HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\DisableUserModeCallbackFilter NAME NOT FOUND Length: 1.024 16:42:43,2747542 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager REPARSE Desired Access: Read 16:42:43,2747717 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager SUCCESS Desired Access: Read 16:42:43,2747922 hg.exe 6656 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SESSION MANAGER\CWDIllegalInDLLSearch NAME NOT FOUND Length: 1.024 16:42:43,2748102 hg.exe 6656 RegCloseKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SESSION MANAGER SUCCESS 16:42:43,2749783 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D:\devel REPARSE Desired Access: Execute/Traverse, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Directory, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult: <unknown> 16:42:43,2750429 hg.exe 6656 QueryOpen D:\devel SUCCESS CreationTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, LastAccessTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, LastWriteTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, ChangeTime: 27.09.2010 13:57:08, AllocationSize: 0, EndOfFile: 0, FileAttributes: DRP 16:42:43,2750929 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D:\devel.x86 SUCCESS Desired Access: Execute/Traverse, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Directory, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult: Opened 16:42:43,2752247 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x76c80000, Image Size: 0x11f000 16:42:43,2753889 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\KernelBase.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x7fefd430000, Image Size: 0x6c000 16:42:43,2759146 hg.exe 6656 Thread Exit SUCCESS Thread ID: 5356, User Time: 0.0000000, Kernel Time: 0.0156001 16:42:43,2771024 hg.exe 6656 Process Exit SUCCESS Exit Status: -1073741502, User Time: 0.0000000 seconds, Kernel Time: 0.0156001 seconds, Private Bytes: 253.952, Peak Private Bytes: 335.872, Working Set: 1.118.208, Peak Working Set: 1.118.208 16:42:43,2771161 hg.exe 6656 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options SUCCESS 16:42:43,2771298 hg.exe 6656 CloseFile D:\devel.x86 SUCCESS
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Monday, January 09, 2012 3:57 PMI was going to start off with monitoring the number of reported taskswith Task Manager, but you are way ahead of me here with using ProcessMonitor. At least you know that the launch of hg.exe is beingattempted. Anything I could add now would be pure speculation aboutideas like resource contention, or other Windows internals that I'm notexperienced with.That "BUFFER OVERFLOW" text below seems to call attention to itself.Do you get that also when it works?.On 1/9/2012 9:47 AM, Frank Schoenmann wrote:> I don't know what I would see with Task Manager, but I have tried to> diagnose it with Process Monitor. It seems as if every program I try to> start from my affected PowerShell instance exits shortly afterwards with> error code 0xc0000142 (after loading kernel32.dll and kernelbase.dll). I> think it is a failure to initialize the application properly.>> 16:42:43,2694499 hg.exe 6656 Process Start SUCCESS Parent PID: 8152> 16:42:43,2694581 hg.exe 6656 Thread Create SUCCESS Thread ID: 5356> 16:42:43,2704461 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Program Files\TortoiseHg\hg.exe SUCCESS Image Base: 0x140000000, Image Size: 0xa000> 16:42:43,2707032 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x76ea0000, Image Size: 0x1a9000> 16:42:43,2709842 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D: SUCCESS Desired Access: Read Attributes, Write Attributes, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Complete If Oplocked, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, Delete, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult: Opened> 16:42:43,2710201 hg.exe 6656 QueryInformationVolume D: BUFFER OVERFLOW VolumeCreationTime: 31.08.2010 14:49:50, VolumeSerialNumber: 4065-A580, SupportsObjects: True, VolumeLabel: Datٍ> 16:42:43,2745998 hg.exe 6656 CloseFile D: SUCCESS> 16:42:43,2747114 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options SUCCESS Desired Access: Query Value, Enumerate Sub Keys> 16:42:43,2747366 hg.exe 6656 RegQueryValue HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\DisableUserModeCallbackFilter NAME NOT FOUND Length: 1.024> 16:42:43,2747542 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager REPARSE Desired Access: Read> 16:42:43,2747717 hg.exe 6656 RegOpenKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager SUCCESS Desired Access: Read> 16:42:43,2747922 hg.exe 6656 RegQueryValue HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SESSION MANAGER\CWDIllegalInDLLSearch NAME NOT FOUND Length: 1.024> 16:42:43,2748102 hg.exe 6656 RegCloseKey HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SESSION MANAGER SUCCESS> 16:42:43,2749783 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D:\devel REPARSE Desired Access: Execute/Traverse, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Directory, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult:<unknown>> 16:42:43,2750429 hg.exe 6656 QueryOpen D:\devel SUCCESS CreationTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, LastAccessTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, LastWriteTime: 01.09.2010 09:57:24, ChangeTime: 27.09.2010 13:57:08, AllocationSize: 0, EndOfFile: 0, FileAttributes: DRP> 16:42:43,2750929 hg.exe 6656 CreateFile D:\devel.x86 SUCCESS Desired Access: Execute/Traverse, Synchronize, Disposition: Open, Options: Directory, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Attributes: n/a, ShareMode: Read, Write, AllocationSize: n/a, OpenResult: Opened> 16:42:43,2752247 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x76c80000, Image Size: 0x11f000> 16:42:43,2753889 hg.exe 6656 Load Image C:\Windows\System32\KernelBase.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x7fefd430000, Image Size: 0x6c000> 16:42:43,2759146 hg.exe 6656 Thread Exit SUCCESS Thread ID: 5356, User Time: 0.0000000, Kernel Time: 0.0156001> 16:42:43,2771024 hg.exe 6656 Process Exit SUCCESS Exit Status: -1073741502, User Time: 0.0000000 seconds, Kernel Time: 0.0156001 seconds, Private Bytes: 253.952, Peak Private Bytes: 335.872, Working Set: 1.118.208, Peak Working Set: 1.118.208> 16:42:43,2771161 hg.exe 6656 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options SUCCESS> 16:42:43,2771298 hg.exe 6656 CloseFile D:\devel.x86 SUCCESS>>>
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Monday, January 09, 2012 4:06 PMYes. This is also hg.exe specific. If I write an extremely simple C program, there is no "BUFFER OVERFLOW", yet the remaining entries look nearly the same. And the process quits with the same error shortly after loading the kernelbase.dll.
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Monday, January 09, 2012 4:13 PM
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Monday, January 09, 2012 4:28 PM
Does it work by adding the path to your app ?
Check your path and pathext with
Get-ChildItem env:path
Get-ChildItem env:pathext
Make sure it is not blank, and doesn't contains any comma
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:44 AM
Nope. Why should the behavior change if adding a path?Does it work by adding the path to your app ?
Check your path and pathext with
Get-ChildItem env:path
Get-ChildItem env:pathext
Make sure it is not blank, and doesn't contains any comma
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:42 PM
I've been experiencing the exact same problem (PowerShell randomly stops executing programs) for the last few months. It's been sporadic enough that I haven't spent too much time diagnosing it, but it doesn't get annoying sometimes.
Interestingly, I also use Mercurial on a daily basis, along with Vim, Java, and Microsoft's Visual C++ command line tools.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 2:18 PMIt just happened to me for the first time just now.There's apparently something that needs to get fixed in PowerShell 2.0as provided with Windows 7..On 1/12/2012 7:42 AM, jason0x43 wrote:> I've been experiencing the exact same problem (PowerShell randomly stops> executing programs) for the last few months. It's been sporadic enough> that I haven't spent too much time diagnosing it, but it doesn't get> annoying sometimes.>
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